Oracle lays into Autonomy with 'whopper lie' claim

Publishes a PowerPoint slide showing sale stats

A very public spat has erupted between two of the world's biggest software companies - Oracle and Autonomy.

Oracle is claiming that Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch is lying to cover up the fact he tried to sell the company to Oracle before the HP acquisition.

In a cutting statement, which has been hilariously titled "Another Whopper from Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch", Oracle explained that Lynch had tried to sell Autonomy to the company, and to prove it has also published PowerPoint slides that made up part of the presentation.

Home truths

Oracle's statement reads: "Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch continues to insist that Autonomy was never 'shopped' to Oracle. But now at least he remembers and admits to meeting with Oracle President Mark Hurd and Doug Kehring, Oracle's head of M&A, this past April.

"But CEO Lynch insists that it was a purely technical meeting, limited to a 'lively discussion of database technologies.' Interesting, but not true."

The statement then links to the presentation, which has all sorts of stats about Autonomy's financials.

In an earlier statement, Oracle referred to Lynch publicly denying that he tried to shop Autonomy to the company, explaining: "Either Mr Lynch has a very poor memory or he's lying."

HP agreed to acquire Autonomy for over $11.7 billion back in September, a price that many believe is over-inflated – including Oracle, which is claiming that it felt the company was over priced at $6 billion, the price Lynch was quoting after the sales pitch he claims never happened.